Animal and Human Tissues

All of the below is from “The Vaccine Book” by Dr. Robert Sears (October 2007; pages 191 – 193), which provides much more detail. Some sections are copied verbatim, paraphrased or summarized.

Between 1955 and 1963, some of the monkey kidney cells used for the injected polio vaccine, the oral polio vaccine, and the adenovirus vaccine were contaminated with SV-40 virus, which is known to cause several types of brain tumors, bone cancer, lymphoma, and mesothelioma cancer in animals. This virus has also been discovered in these same cancers in humans. The SV-40 viruses present in some human tumors today have been determined to be genetically identical to those in vaccines fifty years ago. Although the SV-40 virus is found in human tumors, it is not known if the virus causes the tumors or just happens to be living within the tumors. It is known, however, that the virus triggers these tumors in animals. It is estimated that almost 30 million people were injected with a vaccine containing this virus during that eight-year period. Statistical population studies have not shown that these 30 million people had any higher rates of these cancers than the general population. In 1980, 150 newborns were given a hepatitis A vaccine that also was contaminated with the SV-40 virus.

Monkey kidney cells are still used to make the polio vaccine. Numerous other animal and human tissues are used in many vaccines. Now we know to test the monkeys to make sure they are free of SV-40 virus and other known viruses, so the polio vaccine used today is safer. All animal and human tissues are carefully screened for all known infectious diseases. All animal and human tissues are carefully screened for all known infectious diseases. Some vaccine critics are still worried, however, that there may be other viruses or other infectious agents that are much smaller than viruses and that we don’t yet know how to screen for. Mad cow disease (a rare brain-wasting condition that can affect humans) is one such agent, and we didn’t even know it existed until the 1980s. We’d been using cow tissues to make vaccines for decades before that…

Below is a list of various animal or human tissues used to make vaccines: